Coffee is a great way for your brain to get a morning pick-me-up. What it's NOT intended for is to give your pants a morning pick-me-up.
Coffee has a lot of benefits for our health, even though there's a misconception it's bad for you. It's actually been proven that people who drink more coffee live the longest. It's also been proven that decaf coffee could be killing the environment, so you may as well avoid it.
But there's a coffee from Malaysia that has made its way to the United States, and it's going to offer a little more than a boost of energy. The coffee is laced with Desmethyl carbodenafil, which has similar chemical structure to sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra.
Continue reading to find out why this is a bad thing, what brand of coffee it affects, and where you may have purchased it.
Some of you may be asking...what's the big deal if this chemical is in your coffee? Great question. According to the Food and Drug administration, who have recalled this coffee, the "undeclared ingredient may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs, such as nitroglycerin, and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Men with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease often take nitrates."
Another problem is that the coffee contains unlisted milk ingredients, which could be dangerous for people with allergies.
The coffee in question is "New of Kopi Jantan Tradisional Natural Herbs Coffee."
The product has only been sold at one store, Bestherbs Coffee LLC, owned by Albert Yee. He believes there will be almost 1,000 bags of the coffee sent to the FDA for destruction, though he doesn't necessarily see what the issue is.
"There are whole streets of it, like tequila in Mexico."
The FDA is unsure how the product managed to get into the country without being detected of the Desmethyl carbodenafil, but they believe it was incorrectly listed as an herbal supplement through customs.
Would you drink a cup of this coffee if you know it could have Viagra-like effects?